Month: October 2013

LOS ANGELES – Back at the hotel, turn on the TV and “Meet Joe Black” is on some channel that isn’t even HDTV. Still, I can’t turn it off.

I totally understand why people wouldn’t like this movie. It happens to be Brad Pitt at his least convincing. But I can overlook the flaws and Anthony Hopkins confronting his own mortality is high grade. Add a Thomas Newman score and throw in Claire Florani, and it’s pretty watchable.

But I digress.

The Sharks lost another game at the Staples Center that they should have won or at least could have won. But didn’t. Game 2 of the playoffs last spring comes to mind, of course. But at this point, with the Sharks 1-11 in their last dozen games there, the loss seemed, sadly, almost inevitable.

Players weren’t buying the idea that Staples is the problem with Logan Couture delivering the line that, as someone else on Twitter pointed out, manages to insult two fan bases while being both candid and accurate.

“No, it has nothing to do with that. We just didn’t play well enough to win. We could have played in Florida tonight and probably lost that game, too. We just didn’t play well enough to win.”

Here are a few notes and quotes that didn’t make that story:

****We were trying to figure out the guilty party on those penalties for too many men on the ice. Logan Couture said his line was coming off in both cases. Todd McLellan indicated it involved the same line coming on.

Based on the play-by-play provided at nhl.com, it would appear that it was Joe Thornton’s line coming onto the ice, but that isn’t exactly clear.

LOS ANGELES – Marty Havlat is in the lineup for the first time since that ill-fated return to action in Game 3 of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings.

That didn’t go so well, if you’ll recall, as Havlat re-injured himself on his sixth shift and the Sharks had to go with 11 forwards for much of that game.

Todd McLellan challenged Havlat last season by questioning whether he would be able to adapt to the team’s uptempo, north-south style of play, and the coach did the same thing Wednesday. You can read about that in the online story I filed here

Back now?

You probably noticed a couple other injury updates there that I’ll repeat here. Dan Boyle skated this morning, but isn’t playing tonight. Brent Burns did not make the trip, but has started to skate on his own back in San Jose. And Matt Nieto practiced with his teammates, but isn’t 100 percent.

So is Havlat playing because Nieto can’t? Or are there other factors here?

“I want to get Marty in the lineup, but I am sure we’re not going to fool around with a successful lineup,” McLellan said. Nieto, he added, “is still not 100 percent, he hasn’t skated for three days. To put him in might not be fair not only to him, but to his teammates. After that, there was a good chance this would be a good time for Marty to go in and get a game under his belt.”

OTTAWA – These days, the general response to yet another Sharks victory is: How did they do that?

Which, I suppose, is a good sign. When the Sharks were trampling one team after another, you knew how they were doing it. Now? With key players missing and a sense some night that they didn’t play all that well, they keep on winning.

The print edition story that you can find here puts a heavy emphasis on Alex Stalock and his role in the 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators, a team that looked much better when it challenged the Sharks in San Jose on Oct. 12.

But there were other players worthy of note who may have gotten the short shrift.

Like James Sheppard, who scored a goal that pretty much dashed Ottawa’s comeback hopes.

Twice now I ran into the group of men from Halifax – the Nova Scotia capital where Sheppard grew up – who have been following the Sharks since Boston. Yes, one of those guys is Sheppard’s dad. But when I referred to him tonight, he interrupted . . .

“Actually, mama bear is here too, so it was great,” Sheppard said. “Nova Scotia flags in the stands, so it was awesome. There was about 25 of them here, so I’d say a great thanks to those guys for coming.”

The group showed up in Boston only to see Sheppard get scratched.

“I don’t like sending the message that way, but I still think James was — not comfortable because that’s a bad word — but just letting himself off the hook, not expecting as much from himself as much as we did. He proved there’s a lot more there.”

KANATA, Ontario — Think what it would be like if the Sharks played in Morgan Hill. That’s about what it’s like here, actual geographic home of the Ottawa Senators. You like long drives to hockey games? Put this place right up there with Glendale.

That out of the way, just filed quick online story confirming what you should already know. Alex Stalock getting his first start of the season; Dan Boyle missing another game. You’ll find the online story here

A couple other quick things.

It’s easy to look at the game-by-game log and think Tomas Hertl has hit some sort of wall. After scoring seven goals and nine points in his first six games, he has one lone assist in his next five.

But Todd McLellan cautioned against over-evaluating the situation:

“It’s virtually impossible for him to keep the pace up that he started with and the energy that he had. Has he hit the wall or is this just reality. It’s a man’s league, he’s still a young fellah that’s feeling his way through. People know who he is now and the match-ups are a little bit different so he’s playing through that.

“I think it’s safe to say the same energy level and production level hasn’t been there the last few games as it was earlier in the year, but he also lost a pretty good linemate, too. We have to be careful how much we potentially can over-evaluate the situation. We can talk ourselves into a situation as well.”

****Yes, I know information about Brent Burns and his injury is in short supply. Yes, I am trying to do something about that. I’ve noticed he’s missing, too.

EN ROUTE TO OTTAWA — If you have to deal with back-to-backs on the road as a beat guy, this is the way to do it.

Right now the train is rolling through the Quebec countryside. It’s two hours, downtown Montreal to downtown Ottawa. As hassle-free as possible. Some wise Sharks fans are in the same car I am, so the secret must be out.

If you haven’t read the game story from last night’s 2-0 shutout of the Canadiens, go find it here

To me there were two significant things about the game. 1) It wasn’t a thing of beauty and San Jose still got the two points in the Bell Center. 2) The losing streak stopped at one.

That latter point is addressed in the story, but here’s the complete quote from Todd McLellan on the topic.

“I don’t know if it’s more important in this league to win multiple games or to stop the losses. This is the first time we’ve had to put the breaks on a loss. The response from our group was excellent.

“We could have hung our heads and pouted, from what happened in Boston,” he continued. “I thought we did a good thing yesterday regrouping and were energized tonight. We’ve got a big battle tomorrow.”

MONTREAL – If Larry Robinson does not come back for a third season as associate coach with the Sharks, it’ll likely be because he doesn’t like the lack of respect players have for each other these days.

Returning to the scene of his hall-of-fame career, Robinson was asked if he planned to exercise his contract option for a third season with San Jose.

“Who knows?,” said the 62-year-old Robinson. “At my age I just hope I get up the next morning.”

Then he got serious.

“I wouldn’t be in it as long as I have if I didn’t enjoy the game and that’s the part I like the most,” he said. “If there was anything that would turn me away from the game it’s the way it’s being played and how the league is being handled now.”

Then he brought up the recent rash of illegal hits and injuries.

“How many concussions have we had in the last two, three or four few weeks, the lack of respect the players are having for each other,” Robinson said. “You question where our game is going sometimes.”

Yes, hockey has always been a rough game. But things have changed since his era, Robinson said.

“There were situations where guys put themselves in a vulnerable position where if you did make contact, there was a possibility he’d get hurt. Back then, some guys were stupid enough not to wear helmets,” Robinson said, pointing to himself, “and you’d ease up.”

Now, he added, “I see guys that are in vulnerable positions and players don’t care. They go ahead and hit anyway.”

MONTREAL — Dan Boyle gave the matter more thought and decided to talk Saturday about the hit from behind that knocked him unconscious and the player who delivered it.

Here’s the online story I just filed on that.

Forty-eight hours after keeping his thoughts about St. Louis Blues forward Maxim Lapierre to himself for the hit from behind that knocked him unconscious, Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle opened up Saturday.

“I don’t think he thought he was going to put me in the hospital with the hit, so I agree with him that wasn’t his intention,” Boyle said. “At the same time, we’re told since we were five years old not to hit a guy when you see numbers and it’s pretty clear he saw my numbers and he decided to hit anyway. That’s just lack of respect is what I think.”

Boyle skated at Bell Center with his teammates, but will not play in Saturday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens and added he has no idea when he will be ready to compete again.

In Boston, Boyle talked about the aftermath of the hit by Lapierre, but wouldn’t talk about the play itself or the Blues forward who received a five-game suspension. In Montreal, he said he had given the topic more thought.

And while he faulted Lapierre for the decision he made, Boyle acknowledged he might have done the same thing – depending on who the opposing player was.

BOSTON – Travel tip: When you’re flying out of Boston, take Air Canada no matter where you’re going. Security line for other carriers in Terminal B was miles and miles of luggage-toters. Air Canada security line? Me, en route to Montreal.

But I digress.

Sharks lost last night and it was indeed a painful way to go with 0.8 seconds left and David Krejci cruising unchecked (Joe Thornton copped to it, by the way) through the slot.

One matter left hanging is Tommy Wingels status after taking that questionable hit from Zdeno Chara at 17:32 of the first period. We’re not likely to hear more today as the Sharks have the day off in Montreal. If I do get something, I’ll pass it on, probably via Twitter.

As you read in the story, Todd McLellan wasn’t ready to get exorcised about the Chara hit on Wingels or the apparent stick from Chara to Hertl’s mouth, both of which went unpunished.

He seemed more troubled by the points lost and wasn’t taking a “hockey happens” approach after the game even though it was his team’s first regulation loss in 10 games. In this case, he asserted, hockey happened at least in part because of a breakdown in the coverage down low and that’s pretty unexcusable at that point in the game.

****In the locker room afterward, Bruins goalie Tuuka Rask was asked about his fellow Finn at the other end of the rink, Antti Niemi. The two could end up sharing the nets for Team Finland in the 2014 Olympics.

BOSTON – Normally, I’d be writing about what promises to be a potentially exciting game tonight between the NHL’s only team without a regulation loss and the Boston Bruins.

There’d be a mention of how the 8-0-1 Sharks are undefeated in four games at TD Garden since that November 2005 trade that brought Joe Thornton to San Jose. There’d be more about the first-time NHL battle of the Hamilton brothers – forward Freddie for the Sharks, defenseman Dougie for the Bruins (and we will get to a little more on that later).

But in the cosmic scheme of things, all that becomes secondary to the fact Dan Boyle returned to the ice, practicing with the team. No, he’s not playing tonight – his defense partner during some of the drills this morning was Larry Robinson – but it was the first time any of us talked with him since that nasty hit on Oct. 15 in St. Louis.

The newsier part of what he had to say is in the online story filed here

But Boyle also tried to put this injury in perspective with the few serious ones he’s had over the years.

He talked about dealing with what he referred to as a concussion at one point, then backtracked:

“With concussions, you just have to be careful. And when I say concussion, I haven’t actually been told that I’ve officially had one. Still kind of waiting on more results form the doctors and more feedback on what they saw.

“I know what you guys know, I got knocked out and it’s just a matter of making sure that I have no symptoms and I’m OK going forward in order to get back in the lineup.”

Then he talked about a similar injury in December 2003 when he was with Tampa Bay, and how it stayed with him even when he was back on the ice..

“It’s happened to me once before, when I was in Tampa years ago. I remember being pretty nervous coming back, and I ended up getting hit on the first shift. It was a pretty violent hit, but I didn’t feel anything.

“Not until that point could I have said I was OK, so I’m assuming it’s going to be the same kind of thing where I’ll probably be pretty nervous, and that’s natural, until I get out on the ice and probably get hit for the first time again. Hopefully some of that stress will go away and I’ll get back to normal.”

BOSTON – This place is so immersed in the World Series that I don’t think Bruins tickets have been so devalued as they will be tomorrow night in eons.

Sure, scalpers will make a killing on Cards-Sox, but if some poor secondary-market sap missed out on baseball and invested in Bruins tickets instead, that poor guy is likely to take a bath.

But we’re here for hockey so let’s not digress any further.

The online and print editions story for Thursday looks at the arrival of Mike Brown. Yes, he’ll throw down – 72 NHL fights so far – but both Todd McLellan and his players wanted to stress the speed and energy elements of his game. All that’s in the story you can find here

Read it already? Thanks.

That story also noted that Brent Burns will miss a third second game with what probably should be called facial injuries. The mouth seems too limiting from little we know of the hit in the Calgary game.

That does mean that Freddie Hamilton is likely to face his younger brother Dougie, the Bruins defenseman, on Thursday night. No, it’s not the Sutters, but it is a little odds-defying that Freddie’s second game in his NHL career would come against his brother, whose team resided in the Eastern Conference.

More on that later, but back to Brown.

Or, more specifically, his mustache. It got quick mention in the story that focused more on Brown’s hockey than his appearance, but here’s the back story.